Faith Lutheran Church Pastor David Solevad holds a copy of the Ledger Dispatch during his first visit to the Papua New Guinea highlands in January 2007. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

Five villages in the highlands of Papua New Guinea will soon receive fresh, clean water because of a water project partially sponsored by Faith Lutheran Church in Pioneer.

The project has become even more important as the island nation of Papua New Guinea struggles to contain its first outbreak of cholera in 34 years. According to the World Health Organization, the epidemic has killed at least 40 people and sickened thousands. Cholera is primarily a waterborne disease that causes severe diarrhea, usually in villages with poor water sanitation, like the villages the water project will serve.

"The villages are very primitive. They have huts made out of woven bamboo and strips made for thatched roofs," said Faith Lutheran Church Pastor David Solevad. "It's very remote, but they are such hospitable, accepting people."

The water project was first conceived in 2008, when Dawn Solevad and her husband Bafinuc Ilai, both teachers in the Papua New Guinea town of Goroka, brought their newborn son, Bafinuc Jr., home to Pioneer to meet his grandparents, David and Ellen Solevad. David has been the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church for nearly 30 years, and Dawn grew up and went to school in Amador County.

In a visit with Rev. Eric and Cathy Yochheim, the Yochheims asked Bafinuc about the water situation in his home village, and then touched upon the idea of a well. Now, that idea has grown into a water project. Ilai 's family has been instrumental in researching materials and costs for the project, and the 100-member congregation of Faith Lutheran has collected $11,000 toward its completion.

Ilai's home village is called Du, which is about two hours by bus from Goroka, where the couple live. This village is one of the five villages whose people belong to the Kere tribe of Chimbu Province. Du is also one of the five that will be served by the water project. About 4,000 people live in the five villages located in the mountainous terrain. The people - mostly the women and children - have to hike down a mountain to fetch the water and carry it back up the mountain again to their houses. A local joke is that women do not want to get married to anyone living in those villages. The current water sources not only make collecting water difficult but are also not very sanitary - some are located not far from open latrines.

"It's just a situation that needs help," David said. "The people are very eager for this to be completed. The villagers are doing the labor themselves ... When the Lutheran Development Service asked the people of the village, they said 'all we want is for the agency to provide the supervision, and we'll do the work.'"

Rev. Gary Hansen, a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, of which Faith Lutheran Church is a member, helped obtain a grant from the ELCA World Hunger funds. Dawn and Bafinuc met with Hansen in early 2009. Lutheran Development Service - attached to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea - then became engaged to implement the water project and did the initial survey report in April 2009.

Materials were purchased in the city of Lae in June 2009 and construction began in July. The villagers themselves contributed part of the funds, and are doing most of the work. A second grant from the ELCA World Hunger funds will enable the project to continue. Water will be piped to the villages from a clean, clear stream higher up in the mountains surrounding Du. According to David, it is hoped that water will eventually be piped to individual homes in the villages.

"For a remote region like that, the government has never done anything like this in that area. This is the first for that area," David added. "It's been about a year since the work actually started, and we're hoping it will be done by next fall. We encourage people to continue to contribute to the fund."

For additional information or to contribute to the Kere Water Project, contact David at Faith Lutheran Church in Pioneer at 295-4545, or e-mail faithlutheran@volcano.net.

Faith Lutheran Church is located at 22601 Highway 88. Started by a small women's Bible-study group, Faith Lutheran held its first service at Willingham's Pioneer Motel in 1964. The church and parsonage were built in 1966, and Solevad was called as pastor in 1977. The church directory currently lists 97 individuals or families, both members and non-members.